Friday, 28 November 2008

Thanks to Magic Puk I got to see this video of a Historical Flea Circus in Tivoli Gardens run by Else Torp. One interesting fact is that she used platinum wires rather than the gold mentioned in a lot of other historical examples. It's also very clear from the film that the fleas are doing the pulling and also that they are walking not jumping which would imply some conditioning on top of the fact that they are restrained by the wires.

Friday, 21 November 2008

A new Flea Circus television channel has just started up on the Mogulus site. The channel shows all things to do with flea circuses and but is happy to include other performing insects too. It aims to show exclusive new video material that's not previously been shown on other locations such as Youtube, MySpace or Yahoo! Video. Graphic designer Rafael Olea Ramirez has kindly provided the logo for the channel.

Thursday, 13 November 2008

Oobject specialise in putting together top 10 lists of gadgets based on people's weblists. As part of their wacky gadgets series they have put together a list of their top 10 flea circus contraptions. By visiting you can vote for your favourite, one of Walt Noon's circuses is currently in first place.

Tuesday, 4 November 2008

Martin Duffy has spared time from his busy schedule as a professional performer to tell the Flea Circus Research Library about how he's teamed up with the father and son team from Sven Svenson's Flea Circus to market the flea circuses Eric (the father) builds.

Q: Why did you get into selling flea circuses?

A: In the past Flea Circuses were made pretty crudely with any materials that happened to be at hand. This made them rather awkward to use and notoriously temperamental! Eric looked at it from an engineer's point of view. He has nearly 30 years of "hands-on" experience in many different aspects of engineering and industry. I had bought 3 Flea Circuses in the past made for me by different makers. They all had problems. The Svenson is the first I have been totally happy with. I am very pleased to say that my fellow professionals agree with me. I have exhibited them at magic conventions where they draw extremely favourable comments...and orders!

Q: How does Eric go about making a product that everyone praises?

A: His aim was simple; to create a traditional style Circus that was easy to use, realistic, consistent and great value. In short he wanted to make the best! He uses reliable mechanical controls rather than "electronic", and he only uses the best quality materials.

Q: The Svenson's Flea Circuses contain quite a few new acts, how long does it take to build one of these larger circuses?

A: It normally takes around 3 to 4 weeks work to make one. Other than the trunk or case virtually all parts are made by Eric from scratch (pardon the pun!) from just the raw materials; almost nothing is "off the shelf". The components for the cannon alone take a full day.

Q: Why would a performer want a flea circus?

A: Having a unique presentation that has built-in curiosity value can only lead to higher fees for you.